Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic material primarily used for the magnetic cores of coils, inductors, etc., as well as an electronic component using said magnetic material.
Description of the Related Art
Inductors, choke coils, transistors, and other electronic components each have a magnetic body that constitutes a magnetic core, as well as a coil formed inside or on the surface of this magnetic body. For the materials of magnetic bodies, NiCuZu ferrite and other ferrite materials are generally used, for example.
In recent years, these types of electronic components are facing a need to support higher current, and to meet this demand, making their magnetic bodies from metal materials, instead of traditional ferrites, is being examined. Known metal materials include FeSiCr alloy, FeSiAl alloy, and the like, and, for example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a compacted powder magnetic core made from a FeSiCr soft magnetic alloy powder whose alloy phases are bonded together through oxide phases containing Fe, Si and Cr.
On the other hand, there is a need to further improve the electrical insulation characteristics of metal magnetic materials because, although the saturated magnetic flux densities of these materials are higher than those of ferrites, the volume resistivities of these materials are lower than those of conventional ferrites. For example, Patent Literature 2 discloses a magnetic core made of soft magnetic compacted powder, which is constituted by soft magnetic metal grains whose primary component is Fe, and glass parts disposed between the grains. The glass parts are formed by softening a glass material of low melting point using heat in a pressurized state. It is stated that, when a glass material of low melting point is heated, diffusion reaction occurs between the soft magnetic metal grains due to the low melting point of the material, and this makes it possible to fill voids of certain sizes that cannot be filled with the oxide parts covering the surfaces of the soft magnetic metal grains.